Kemensos and TNI Prepare Sekolah Rakyat Training
Kemensos and TNI prepare Sekolah Rakyat training with 1,000 cadets, targeting 178 school sites starting in August 2026.
JAKARTA — Kemensos and TNI Prepare Sekolah Rakyat Training, with about 1,000 Military Academy cadets set to mentor students at 178 school sites as Indonesia’s Social Affairs Ministry and armed forces map out the first rollout for August 2026.
The plan was discussed at the Social Affairs Ministry office in Central Jakarta on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, and officials say the training is aimed at more than just classroom routines. It is meant to shape daily discipline, cleanliness, and order inside a boarding-school model that the government wants to expand quickly.
Cadets to guide daily discipline at school sites
Deputy Social Affairs Minister Agus Jabo Priyono said each Sekolah Rakyat site is planned to receive five cadets. Their job goes beyond supervising students. They are also expected to help teachers keep dormitory life tidy and structured.
“Once there is a scheme between TNI Headquarters and Kemensos, under the Ministry of Defense, each Sekolah Rakyat is planned to have five cadets. These five cadets will guide both students and teachers on neatness,” Agus said on Thursday, June 25.
Agus said President Prabowo Subianto has already paid close attention to the issue of neatness and discipline in the schools. That focus may sound small, but in a boarding environment it can decide how smoothly children adapt to a new routine. Beds must be made. Shoes lined up. Uniforms pressed. Every day starts with order.
“Because we really need it. From the start, the minister wanted discipline to be built from the old environment to the new environment at Sekolah Rakyat, and from the beginning we had actually asked the TNI/Police to be involved in the training process,” Agus said.
About 1,000 cadets prepared for 178 schools
Lt. Gen. R. Sidiharta Wisnu Graha, commander general of the Indonesian Military Academy, said the academy is preparing around 1,000 first- and second-year cadets for the program. The group also includes cadet supervisors who will help oversee the training process.
“We will prepare 1,000 people, including the cadet supervisors. So the cadets we send will be first- and second-year students,” Wisnu said.
That scale matters. A network of 178 sites is wide enough to test whether the same standards can be applied across regions that may differ sharply in facilities, staffing, and local habits. If the rollout works in one province but slips in another, the government risks creating uneven results in a program that is supposed to look uniform from day one.
Wisnu said the technical design is still being finalized together by TNI Headquarters and Kemensos. Officials are still discussing how the cadets will work at each school, how long the training will last, and how dormitory supervision will be organized once students arrive.
Why the program matters for families
The government’s emphasis on routine touches a bigger issue for families. Sekolah Rakyat is not being treated as a normal school program with a few extra rules. It is being built as a full boarding environment, which means children will need to learn self-care fast. Washing, folding, arranging clothes, and keeping shared rooms clean are part of the first lessons.
For parents, that could make the program more attractive if they want their children to build independence early. For students, it also means a sharper adjustment period. The government is betting that military-style discipline, when framed as training rather than punishment, can help children settle into study more quickly and avoid chaos in dorm life.
The plan is tied to Presidential Instruction No. 8 of 2025, which serves as one of the policy bases for Sekolah Rakyat. That gives the program a formal footing and explains why ministries and the military are moving in step instead of working separately.
Agus said the joint model is meant to prevent problems later if the program expands nationwide. “So if in the future we carry out this program, there will be no problem, because it is in line with Presidential Instruction No. 8 of 2025,” he said.
The first training phase is targeted to begin in early August 2026 and last one week. If the pilot runs as planned, the cadet-led model could become a recurring part of Sekolah Rakyat’s daily life, with TNI Headquarters and Kemensos still fine-tuning the final assignment pattern before the start date.
